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Ward's Mentor Leadership camp offers unique setting

Brady Aymond, pnj.com 12:17 a.m. CDT June 12, 2014

Washington High head football coach Charlie Ward, second from right, will host a special camp this weekend geared toward father-son and mentor-mentee relationships.(Photo: Bruce Graner/bgraner@pnj.com)

As a two-sport star at Florida State in the '90s, Charlie Ward was as unique as they come.

A quarterback on the football team, Ward led the Seminoles to the 1993 national championship, winning the Heisman Trophy along the way.

A point guard on the basketball team, he led the Seminoles to the Elite 8 in the 1993 NCAA basketball tournament before being drafted in the first round of the NBA draft by the New York Knicks a year later.

Now, Ward is trying to bring that uniqueness to the Pensacola area and Washington High School as he hosts a one-of-a-kind football clinic Saturday at the school.

The Charlie Ward Mentor Leadership Football Camp will be from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Washington High School. It will feature elementary and middle school kids entering grades three through right, joined by a mentor.

"Basically, it's a father-son, mentor-mentee outing," Ward said. "We essentially have opportunities, stations for the fathers and sons, mentors and mentees, to interact and do different things in a football environment.

"We will have a life coach there to help the mentors. Each station will have a theme and will deliver life's message as it relates to the importance for kids to have a relationship with an adult male figure."

Ward was introduced to the idea when he became a member of the All-Pro Dad group, which strives to "help fathers become passionate about their role in their family's life."

That group holds various NFL Father & Kids Experience camps, as well as All Pro Dad Days across the country. Ward said he took some of those ideas and incorporated them into his own personal style.

"I think what we're trying to establish at Booker T. Washington as far as the football program is that we want to foster that environment," Ward said. "We're mentors to all the kids that come into our program. We're just wanting to share that message with those in the community and for them to understand and know it's important for the fathers to be in a kids' lives or have a relationship with an adult male figure.

"Sometimes as fathers, we shy away from certain things. Some of them are old school. Sometimes, kids need hugs and they need an encouraging word. And sometimes they need to be challenged. I think all of these messages will hit. It is different, and that's what I've been talking to our coaches about. We want to be different instead of doing the same thing everyone else is doing."

Ward knows that in certain situations kids won't have a father figure in their life, which is why he's stressing the mentor-mentee relationship, whether that comes in the form of an uncle, a youth coach or an older brother.

"We know there will be situations like that," Ward said. "We're not going to turn down a kid if he comes without a mentor. We're going to have someone available to fill in for kids in those situations.

"We are strongly encouraging parents to bring someone to fill in as a mentor. We want it to be about the mentor-mentee or father-son experience."

That the clinic being the day before Father's Day wasn't intentional, according to Ward.

"I would like to take credit for it, but it was a God thing," Ward said. "I didn't even know it was Father's Day weekend when I made the decision on the date. Someone mentioned to me that it was Father's Day weekend. I knew that it was just meant to happen that way.

"And it's a great opportunity for mothers to give the fathers a nice Father's Day Gift. It'll be a good outing for them and their son."

The camp will wrap up with a special surprise guest, which Ward would only say is another Heisman Trophy winner.

"It's going to be nice," Ward said. "All I can say is he has won the Heisman."

Want to go?

• WHAT: Charlie Ward Mentor Leadership Football Camp.

• WHEN: 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

• WHERE: Booker T. Washington High.

• AGES: Elementary and middle school-aged children entering grades three through eight. Kids should be joined by a father or mentor for the camp, which will focus on developing the mentor-mentee relationship through football.